Category 8 pricing will be introduced on 5 March, meaning it is best to lock in stays at luxury properties now.
Since first published in April 2018, this master guide to the merger has been revised numerous times to include the latest news and updated advice.
New Category 8 pricing
Since the merger in August last year, some top-tier properties have been available for the artificially low price of 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night—this is a fantastic deal.
When the new award chart comes into effect on 5 March, these properties will move to a new, higher Category 8, costing 85,000 points, which is ~41% more expensive than now.
And later in the year (date unconfirmed), peak and off-peak pricing will be introduced, meaning they will cost up to 100,000 points during peak dates (~66% more expensive than now).
So which properties are increasing in price? There are almost 70 and are mostly of the Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and Luxury Collection brands. Here are some popular ones:
- The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai
- The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong
- The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto
- The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe
- The Ritz-Carlton, New York Central Park
- The Ritz-Carlton, Naples
- The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo
- The St. Regis Aspen Resort
- The St. Regis Bali
- The St. Regis Bora Bora
- The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- The St. Regis New York
- The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort
- The St. Regis Rome
- Blue Palace, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, Crete
- Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai
- The London EDITION
- W South Beach
Note that these properties have potentially experienced a dramatic drop in availability for booking with points both due to a lot of demand from travellers.
Property reclassification
In a separate change, 5 March will also bring category changes for properties across the board. Of the properties affected, most are going up in price.
Fortunately, there is only one Australian property affected by the changes—the Courtyard Sydney-North Ryde is actually dropping a category from 4 to 3.
You can check the full changes here.
The merger in brief
- Three hotel loyalty programs—Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards—combined into one in mid-August 2018
- Points and elite status in SPG were transferred over to Marriott
- The new combined program name Marriott Bonvoy launched on 13 February 2019
- In December 2018, there was a security breach on the Starwood Preferred guest reservation database—if you are one of the approximately 500 million (!) guests affected, you should have been contacted by email
What stayed the same?
- Fifth night on award stays free
- Cash and points awards
- SPG 25% transfer bonus to frequent flyer programs (effectively—see below)
New award chart
There will be eight categories instead of the previous nine in Marriott Rewards. From sometime in 2019 (date unconfirmed), the award chart will differentiate between peak and off-peak rates, which are slated to be more or less evenly split over the year.
There are no blackout dates at any property.
There is a searchable table of all 6,700+ Marriott, Starwood and Ritz-Carlton properties with their current and future pricing. Here is the timeline:
- Until 4 March 2019: Categories 1-7 under one unified award chart
- From 5 March 2019: Category 8 added into award chart
Almost 70% of properties require the same or fewer points, meaning that over 30% have increased in price.
For example, The Old Clare Hotel in Sydney used to cost 12,000 Starpoints/36,000 Marriott points (remember: 1 Starpoint = 3 Marriott Bonvoy points), and this dropped by 1,000 points to 35,000 in the new program.
The Aloft Perth dropped from 21,000 Marriott points to 17,500 points.
The W Brisbane is the only one of the 20 Australian properties in the combined program that increased in price, from 30,000 Marriott points to 35,000 points.
But—and a big but it is—the new amounts are for ‘standard’ pricing. From March 2019, there will be a pricing difference between off-peak and peak dates and we don’t have information on those what exactly those dates are yet.
There is now a rotating PointSavers list, with 20% off points redemptions at select hotels.
Bad news: American Express points transfers to Marriott Bonvoy
With the launch of the combined program in August 2018, and post the changes to the American Express Rewards program in April 2019, the transfer rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy is as follows:
Read our guide to the American Express Membership Rewards Points program here.
Hotel + Air Packages
This has historically been a really popular points redemption avenue for Marriott Bonvoy members and, as an extension, SPG members.
Most Marriott Hotel + Air Packages are now priced the same, regardless of the airline you are transferring your points to, rather than split into five tables. The only exception is United MileagePlus, with whom you’ll get a 10% bonus.
This new table is a devaluation but still offers better value than just a straight Marriott points-to-airline transfer.
Status
Elite status is now recognised across all three programs with five elite tiers—basically like SPG used to have plus a Marriott Silver tier.
Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards Gold now translate into Platinum Elite—this is the main elite status to aim for—whilst Platinum has become Titanium Elite.
More brands now offer breakfast, notably Courtyard and resort properties, but Ritz-Carltons and some others will still not feed you for free.
How do the changes affect me if I hold SPG Gold status?
SPG Gold became Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite, meaning those members lost out with reduction of guaranteed 4pm late check-out to 2pm late check-out subject to availability, and only bonus points as arrival gift instead of choice between that and a welcome drink.
The backdoor access route to free breakfast for SPG Gold Elite members (no breakfast) through status matching to Marriott Gold Elite for free breakfast at Marriott properties has disappeared.
Your earn rate on stays has increased from 3 Starpoints (= 9 Marriott Bonvoy points) per US$1 spent to 12.5 points, which is a positive change.
The American Express Platinum Card still offers automatic Gold Elite status.
How do the changes affect me if I hold SPG Platinum status?
SPG Platinum members became Platinum Elite in the new program.
You get complimentary suite upgrades subject to availability, as well as five confirmed Suite Night Awards each year.
Your earn rate on stays has increased from 3 Starpoints (9 Marriott Bonvoy points) per US$1 spent to 15 points, which is a substantial increase.
Earning points
The base rate of 10 points per US$1 spent is the same as the previous Marriott Rewards program, with that rate halved at Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and Element properties.
Redeeming points by transferring to frequent flyer partners
Here are two bits of great news!
Firstly, the new program has kept the same ratio as the current sweet spot in transferring from SPG in increments of 20,000 Starpoints to get a 5,000-point bonus. Under the new scheme, if you transfer 60,000 rewards points to a frequent flyer partner, you get a 5,000 bonus miles (equivalent to 15,000 bonus points), which will equal 20,000 + 5,000 bonus = 25,000 frequent flyer points.
The new program has 3:1 transfer ratio to frequent flyer partners, meaning it basically works the same as the current SPG program.
Secondly, all current SPG and Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners have been kept, which increases the versatility of your points. Notably, Qantas Frequent Flyer is now included as one of the transfer partners—it was not an SPG partner but was previously available through Marriott—and Velocity was an SPG partner but not Marriott partner and is also included in the new program. Apart from that, I have seen no notable/useful additional partners coming on.
Summing up
It has been a rocky road during this merger, which is partly understandable given the huge challenges in unifying three programs but a general consensus amongst the frequent flyer community is that the new program does not offer the same value as it used to and the changes have not been communicated or implemented in the ideal way.
Let’s hope that the final touches to the merger go more smoothly in 2019 and you can be sure we will update this guide with our analysis of them.
How has the merger of Marriott Bonvoy and SPG affected you and your travel plans?
Is it possible to book upgraded rooms with Marriott Rewards points? For example, I am looking at the W Bali and no matter what dates I search it seems only the garden view rooms (not ocean view) are available for points redemption. Does this apply across all properties? Are there any other options (i.e. cash or points upgrade after booking)?
Time to stop using my SPG card and looking for non Starwood properties. I was loyal for year and remain a very active business traveler but its not worth it anymore. The daily resort fees are through the roof at the places i used to go anyway. I think SPG Marriott will look back and realize what a mistake it was. Its takes years to build loyalty but this move is the final insult. Hello Cash award Cards and ANY hotel when i travel now. you guys “Jumped the shark”…
“New Category 8 pricing was slated to be introduced from the start of the new year”
Matt, that was never the case. Marriott have always stated ‘coming early 2019’ – they have never ever mentioned January 1 – it’s just some people assumed this was the date but with absolutely no confirmation from Marriott.
Exactly! We got it wrong. Nice to have some more clarity now.
If I book a few rooms for my employees to stay during a conference, would I be getting all the points or the guests would get them? Thanks.
You can earn the points on up to three rooms (as long as you are paying for them), but you will only earn elite qualifying night credits for one room. Enjoy the conference!
Question, in Amex website,
It still says 3 American Express point
For 2 STARPOINT….
Since we know it is starpoints are no more…. does it mean 2 Marriott points? (Means typo on Amex website)
Or it actually mean starpoint, which is 6 marriot points? Have anyone transferred and find out?
It means Marriott Rewards points, so 3 American Express Membership Rewards points = 2 Marriott Rewards points.
The FAQ says “Remember that your SPG account’s Starpoints® balance already tripled on a one-time basis when it was converted to Points in the combined Loyalty Program.”
Does that mean if I transfer Amex points to SPG, then do an account combination, I’ll get the old rate as a one time thing?
No, all transfers are at the new rate.
Just a note for anyone else who might read this guide and get stung from the lack of detail given – the fifth night free is only applicable for hotels from Category 3 and up.
Do you have a link to that?
Sorry for the delay. I was informed of this over the phone when I called to query why my booking hadn’t gone through at the lower rate. It appears as though I am not the only one who this has happened to though – see https://insiders.marriottrewards.com/thread/55429.
So Amex will essentially become worthless in Australia.
I have a question I wonder if anyone can help with. I am staying at a Springhill Suites (which is part of the Marriott chain) this weekend, August 9-12. I am trying to figure out which card to pay for it with – the Starwood Business Amex , Marriott Business Chase Visa Signature, or Chase Ritz Carlton Rewards Visa Infinite. It looks like the Starwood (it earns 2x at Marriott hotels & will be converted x3 when the programs merge later in August, so a total of 6x) whereas the other two cards only earn 5x. But with all the recent changes I am not sure if this is true anymore. Can anyone help?
As those are US credit cards, I would recommend doing some research on US blogs like One Mile At A Time and Million Mile Secrets to answer that question.
Matt
I am from Singapore, I have approx 2.5 million SPG point, do you think worth to convert all to air miles?
I have 12 years platinum with SPG and 1344 night at the moment , I should be able to reach lifetime Platinum right。
Wow, that’s a lot of points! I don’t think it is worth transferring those points without a specific use in mind. You’ll still be able to transfer them to airline partners at the same rate under the new program, so no change there. You may consider booking a Hotel + Air Package (or two), though, given their outsized value and your large points balance.
I have a reservation on points at the end of August (St. Regis Princeville, future category 8 property) that i effectively reserved using 90K Marriott Points per night. Under the new terms, it looks like this will temporarily be at 60K Marriott Points per night. I really don’t want to cancel my award stay and re-book on August 19th in the event award stays fill up. Do you think Marriott will true-up my points if I call on August 19 or later? It will yield me an incremental 120K points over my stay which is worth a whole additional week. I am a Platinum member through the end of this year.
What to do here is a burning question for many members. There will be plenty of people competing for the lower priced awards immediately after the program changes. If I were in your situation I would be tempted to wait to let the dust settle for a few weeks and see if it’s possible to cancel and rebook immediately over the phone.
I have just tried to move my Amex Gateaway points and have been told I won’t be able to do it as of 27th of July.
Does anyone else have this problem??
From Amex:
I have already checked and SPG cannot be linked to your account for direct point transfer.
As per the recent update, there are going to be changes to the SPG Loyalty program and the system is being updated between 27th July to 27th August 2018 to accommodate these changes in the Membership rewards program.
We regret this inconvenience, however since it does take time for the upgrade to happen and sync with the partner program, we have this time frame between which this will not be available
Thanks for the heads up George. We are investigating this a bit further and will report back with what we find.
Just found the same thing. This is outrageous. There was absolutely no notice given that there would be a freeze on transfers and now we are stuck with devalued points.
If you’re going to devalue points, and then freeze transfers, then really Marriott should give people notice and allow them to make any informed decisions before locking in the devalued rate.
Any update on the following that you wrote:
“Aim to redeem your points for a Hotel + Air Package before 1 August but hold off until mid-July or so when we will hopefully have more information on how your hotel certificate will be honoured under the new program”
Currently being told that I have to book the hotel before August if I want a Hotel + Air package.
Hey Steven, we still don’t have information on how unused hotel certificates will transfer over. Quite a few bloggers think this is because Marriott will be generous with the transfer (keeping the same categories or reimbursing in points). You don’t need to book the hotel before the new program starts. In the next day or two, I’m going to redeem my Marriott points for a Hotel + Air Package and leave the hotel certificate unused to see what happens.
Hi Matt,
When you redeemed for Hotel + Air, is it the same package for all airlines you get or do you still have to choose between the 4 packages? If so, which one did you get and why? I am considering redeeming about 4 of these 7 night hotel + Air package and leaning towards ANA for the flight. Any input is much appreciated.
You still have to choose between the five tables (including United). Most bloggers concur that the best value is to be found in table Package 1 in the far-right column (120,000 points). My picks in that table are Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic (great for ANA redemptions). It might be good to split your points up across a couple of programs to mitigate the risk of a devaluation in one of the programs.
Hi,
For those of us who currently hold an Amex card, we are able to transfer points to a large amount of additional frequent flyer programs (e.g. Alaska, Hawaiian, American Airlines ect..) via SPG.
1 Amex MR point = 0.5 SPG points. SPG points then equate 1:1 to a majority of the different frequent flyer programs (with a bonus of 5k points for every 20k points transferred).
Does this mean that using this SPG ‘hack’ of transferring Amex points to these other frequent flyer rewards programs via SPG is just about to get a lot more expensive/ less worthwhile?
If so, could you please update your article to include a section of how the devaluation will impact those wanting to make an flight redemption using Amex points.
Thank you
Whilst the SPG-Marriott to frequent flyer partners transfer ratio is staying the same (see Redeeming points by transferring to frequent flyer partners) the transfer ratio from Amex to SPG-Marriott is being devalued, so, yes, essentially, this hack is losing value. I have added a recommendation in as the second dot point in the first subheading (see if you want to transfer your Amex points to a program that is an SPG-Marriott partner…).
Thank you for clarifying this Matt.
This is sad news for Amex holders. Such a shame that this benefit is going to be heavily devalued!
🙁
Hi Benji
I do the same MR → SPG → 1:1 airline partner. Previously to work out how much your MR points were worth (including the 25% transfer bonus) you would calculate this by multiplying your MR points by 0.625. Now you would need to multiply by 0.2777777778 (or multiply by 5, then divide by 18) This is a massive devaluation and having an AMEX is no longer a viable option.
Hi Matt.
Thanks for a great article.
I have got a few questions to ask:
You have mentioned that the
“Book top-tier Starwood hotels (including all-suite properties) for over 40% off from August
For the first time, all-suite SPG properties like The St. Regis Bora Bora will be bookable at standard rates.”
These will go down to 20,000 star-points (60,000 Marriott points in new currency).
Do you know if its applicable to all category 7 properties ?
This is from SPG website:
PLEASE NOTE: Free Night Awards at the following locations require higher Starpoint redemption amounts either because the hotel does not have standard rooms or the standard rooms it offers have a mandatory Full Board requirement in peak seasons: St. Regis Resort Bora Bora, and Le Méridien Bora Bora, Bora Bora, French Polynesia; W Maldives, Maldives; Sunset Key Guest Cottages, A Westin Resort, Key West, Florida; Mystique, Santorini, Greece; Pine Cliff Residences, Albuferia, Portugal; and Cala Di Volpe, Hotel Pitrizza, and Hotel Romazzino, Porto Cervo, Italy. The minimum number of Starpoints required for a free night at The Resort at Singer Island, a Category 5 property, ranges from 24,000 to 64,000 Starpoints; the minimum number of Starpoints required for a free night at the Pine Cliff Residences, which is a Category 6 hotel, is 40,000 to 100,000 Starpoints; and the minimum number of Starpoints required for a free night at the other listed properties, which are all Category 7 properties, ranges from 60,000 to 140,000 Starpoints depending on the hotel, its category, its room types, the time of year, and/or its mandatory requirements. Redemptions at these hotels must be booked through your local customer contact center.
So I want to ask if the 20,000 Star-points (60,000 in new currency) will be applicable to all the above mentioned properties as well or we don’t have that information as yet ?
Hope to see your reply soon.
Cheers.
Hassan.
Hi Hassan, good question. Yes, these properties will be bookable. You can double-check their current and future category in this table. Just be aware that they will have limited availability as a lot of people will want to book them at the same time. As of now, we don’t know if the beginning date will be 1 August or another date in August.
Thanks Matt.
Another question in relation to this.
The table you are referring to, I believe the no. of points mentioned there are “the points” which will come in Aug. like 90k points (equivalent to 30k starpoints) for example lets say for Al Maha Dubai resort.
Correct, except note the asterisk:
Which is 60,000 points.
Perfecto.
Thanks Matt.
The website wasn’t allowing me to comment below your 2nd answer, thats why here.
Matt- do we have info. on transfers between family members- a feature of SPG where family members staying at the same address can transfer points across to the main account holder- is that going to stay as well post the merger ?
Not sure about this one. Currently, Marriott members can transfer up to 50,000 points a year to anyone.
Hi Matt.
Another question in relation to this.
For SPG Gold through AMEX platinum charge, they will move onto Gold Elite, with changes as you have mentioned above. Previously as SPG Gold members, we used to get upgrade of hotel rooms if available on arrival- will this still be the case ?
Gold Elite members in the new program will still get upgrades (not suites though) but will lose free breakfast. More here.
Thanks Matt for all your replies.
Hi Matt.
Another question in regards to this.
SPG facebook chat says that for Designer hotels- only standard rooms are available for booking via points-and not the suites- is that true or they don’t have this info yet ?
From your article i got the impression that from Aug- date till undecided till Dec. we could book any category 7 hotels including suits at the rate of 60k new points = 20k starpoints current.
Correct me if i am wrong or i have mis-interpreted something ?
Thanks.
I would go off what SPG has said on Facebook in this case.
Thanks.
This is terrible news.
Currently I require 2 MRs to get 1 JAL point. This change means I will require 4.5 MRs to obtain 1 JAL point.
Is this correct?
Thanks
That calculation is correct.
In theory Amex Membership Rewards have to give 30 days notice of any “material devaluation” so I will wait for my email for official confirmation.
This is disappointing if true and will certainly influence my redemption behaviour and even loyalty. Hilton Gold is better than the future Marriott Gold.
Correction: They can add and remove partners without notice.
This means they will delete SPG and add Marriott and that will be that – no discussion about whether Marriott members are better or worse off.
Just wondering if we can still transfer AMEX points to Marriott after Aug 18? SPG is going to be retired and Marriott reward is currently not a partner with AMEX reward.
I am 90% sure the new program will be a transfer partner of American Express but we don’t have confirmation on that or the transfer rates yet. Watch this space.
When I enquired with Amex customer service they informed me that the new transfer rate will be 1:1, which given that the current SPG transfer rate is 2:1 while the SPG:Marriott conversion rate is 3:1 means there’s a bit of a devaluation.
This obviously isn’t an official Amex statement, just what I was told when I asked customer service.
Thank you for sharing! Let’s see how it plays out.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for this article. I am wondering how I should be allocating my points strategy from now one.
I had to cancel all my cards to apply for a home loan where previously I had 600k in KrisFlyer and 500k in Qantas. I have recently redeemed the majority of my points for a trip to Rome business class for a family of four.
As a young family this will be out last big trip for a while and more than likely take domestic trips to NZ, Asia and Domestic. I am thinking maybe my points should now be targeted to maybe Asia Miles (Flight) and SPG (Hotels+Flights). Do you have any advice?
Cheers,
WD
I would recommend you post this in our Questions section so our community can help out with some advice.
Does anyone know what happens to the current Cat1-5 Vouchers you hold? Are you able to still book Cat5 hotels beyond Aug 1 using those vouchers?
We don’t have that information yet but I think it will get clearer by mid-July.
I was told that Amex Plat SPG gold – Marriott gold will no longer be getting new Marriott plat status this August. Marriott has changed their policy to block this status match.
That is correct.
Hi Matt Do u have any idea what happen with qualification of platinum status this year with spg. If I haven’t qualified for platinum for next year under spg program before august, will my qualification criteria would be assess under new program or under old spg program?
As far as I know, the new membership year for status starts in February/March each year.
Matt, Al Maha is 60k per night( low season) or 30K +co-pay of around $500. How do you expect this one to play out in the future? if already booked, will Marriott honor a refund for points if lower?
Al Maha is one of the properties I’ve listed that will enjoy the sweet spot, so you could either cancel your booking come August and rebook at the new price; or, I’ve read that Marriott will refund the difference if you contact them then.
80,000 starpoints is a huge amount of starpoints to burn on a hotel stay even if it is supposedly discounted. Could get you a one way business class fare from AU/NZ to IST on SQ. Also wonder how many people would actually drop $2600 in cash to stay at that W property used in the example.
I’m super confused…! 😀 If anyone can help me would be much appreciated (and if you’re in Melbourne I’ll offer a drink as well! :D).
I’m going for a super short honeymoon in August to Fiji. I booked 5 nights at the Sheraton resort in Tokoriki Island (which is a category 5) through SPG. It costed me approx 50,000 points (I used the free night but I also requested the best room). I have the feeling that this booking wasn’t really the most “maximised” way to use my points though. I’m now trying to figure out if there is a valid alternative to it (I need to stay at the Fiji as I already booked my plane tickets).
I have never been a Marriott member before but it seems like that I should start to look at some offers… now, the only Marriott hotel that I can find at the Fiji is the resort is Momi Bay which is shown as category 8 (already?!? My understanding was that they are going to present this category in 2019). The over-water bungalows look quite nice.
Do you guys think that I should book something else (between the Marriott and SPG programs)? I don’t have any status with SPG.
I still have approx 130.000 points in my SPG account.
Thank you so much to anyone able to help me out!
Thanks for the August tip. I was intending to book NYC on the weekend but I was too lazy, now it looks like I’LL JUST HAVE TO wait to book, then stay at the St Regis
Not sure I understand, currently most SPG to airline transfers are 1:1 (there are a few exceptions) however the article states “The new program will have 3:1 transfer ratio to frequent flyer partners, meaning it will basically work the same as the current SPG program.”
So this is far from basically the same as current. Care to explain?
Thanks
Great article, thanks Matt.
Has Marriott made a decision yet on:
Maximum number of points you can buy per year in the new program?
Maximum number of points you can transfer to other members per year in the new program?
Cost of buying points?
I really hope they continue to allow us to make a points booking without needing to have the points in your account first (as long as you have them in your account 7 days before you stay). It’s really handy to be able to secure a room while you are still waiting for credit card points to transfer over.
Thanks.
Good questions but no answers to them as of now. Keep your ears out.
I hope I’m not over-interpreting above, but one small piece of info above could be a very good development, which is adding QANTAS as a transfer partner for SPG – whilst QANTAS is often a poor use of reward points, it can be useful to have QANTAS points when travelling domestically, so my assumption based on this development is that I probably won’t need to split my points earning strategy (ie, between an AMEX and a card earning QANTAS points) — of course, it depends on the rate of transfer between SPG and QANTAS, but if it’s 1.25:1 as per many other airlines, that’s actually better than almost all QANTAS Visa or Mastercards (if you earn eg, 2 points / $ on an AMEX card).
If I’m reading the article correctly it will be more like a 12:5 ratio if you include the ‘bonus’ so a massive devaluation from current.
Thanks, although are you referring to ‘earn rates’, as I’m referring to ‘transfer rates’ when transferring SPG points earnt (eg, via AMEX) to an airline partner, such as QANTAS?
No, this is referring to transfer rates, read “Redeeming points by transferring to frequent flyer partners” above. The transfer rate is changing from 1:1 [1:1.25 with bonus] to 3:1 [or 3:1.25 with bonus]. This is a massive dilution of points for those of us that use Starwood points for airline transfers and probably no longer worthwhile.
No, the effective transfer rate is not changing. Example:
You have 20,000 Starpoints now. You can transfer those at 1:1 ratio to, say, KrisFlyer, and receive 25,000 KrisFlyer miles with the bonus.
Come 2019, your 20,000 Starpoints become 60,000 points in the new program because of the 1:3 transfer from Starpoints to Marriott. Your 60,000 points transfer to KrisFlyer at a 3:1 ratio but you also get a 15,000-point bonus, giving you 20,000 KrisFlyer miles + 5,000 bonus miles = 25,000 KrisFlyer miles.
Exactly the same.
Arrgh!! so confusing!
Thanks Matt
Yes would love more info on AMEX MR -> to the new SPG/Marriott program
Anything below 1 AMEX -> 1.5 Spg/MR would be a massive devalution
No word yet—we’ll update you when we hear anything. Guide updated.
Matt, your point regarding someone with Amex Plat (and SPG Gold by default) who status-matched to Marriott Gold and got free brekky and lounge access at Marriott properties.
YES, they will retain that benefit for now and will be transferred over to the Marriott Platinum status come August, but this is not a loophole as you say, it is a stated benefit and Marriott are well aware of it, and doing it cos they don’t wanna disrupt people’s benefits mid-year, so that’s pretty big of them.
However, those who attain Platinum under this scenario will be wound back down to Gold from Feb 2019 and will lose the brekky and lounge (as that is no longer a Gold benefit under the new program). Again, this is something which has been confirmed by Marriott loyalty program head, so people should be well aware of that.
I see a lot of people moaning over losing access to above stated benefit and expect AmEx to somehow compensate this ‘loss’ of benefit. That is hilarious, AmEx never offered Marriott Gold or the benefits that fall under it. Those with the Plat card should be thankful they have had it this good for the last 18 months or so, under the status match offered to them.
Problem is, when you let people have a freebie once, they fall into this ‘entitlement’ mindset and expect it to continue forever. Well tough luck I say to them. Elite statuses are meant for people who actually spend nights and dollars all year around and earn it that way. Why should they have to put up with a bunch of free-loaders intent on gaming the system and crowding lounges for free tipple?
Well done to Marriott for coming up with this new program in a fair and equitable manner. I am SPG Plat (earned it the hard way) and am not happy to see the nights capped at 1, even if I book multiple rooms, but that’s the way it goes. You just have to accept things and move on.
Hi,
Thanks for this article (and many others you’ve written which have helped me in so many ways)! It’s always great to hear the Australian perspective on the “points and miles” world. However I’d be really interested to hear your perspective on how this change may particularly affect those of us in Aus who transfer Amex Rewards to SPG Starpoints. Do you think we will lose the ability to do this?
My particular case is that I have newly signed up to the DJ’s Amex and was particularly attracted by the high Starpoints earning opportunity at supermarkets and petrol stations – however Marriott is not a transfer partner for the card! If the opportunity to transfer to Starpoints is lost, my ongoing reason to keep the card will also be defunct.
I’m wondering whether to transfer my current balance of Amex Rewards to SPG in the near future, just in case this happens.
Thanks heaps!
No word yet—we’ll update you when we hear of anything. I’d recommend holding onto those Amex points for now and we’ll get advance notice of the changes—they you can make a decision.
I am curious whether Amex AU will continue to enable the MR points transfer to SPG/Marriott new program.
No word yet—we’ll update you when we hear of anything. Guide updated.